Saturday, April 7, 2012

Too much Prepping Paperwork!

I was wading through a stack of papers at home and I realized I have way too much prepping paperwork.  Since I don't want to rely on a working computer to get information I have printed up a lot of books, reports, and pages from many websites.  Enough already!  I have stacks of papers. 

What I realize is much of what I have I no longer need.  By trying to live the preparedness lifestyle I've become expert or semi-expert at many self sufficiency tasks. 

I don't need paperwork telling me how to build a chicken coop.  I've built four of them in my lifetime including the two I have right now.  I know how to feed the chickens and care for them. 

I don't need paperwork telling me how to wash clothes by hand.  Keeping a copy of laundry formulas is fine with my stash of washing soda, fels naptha soap, etc. but chapters on hand washing?  No, I have a wash board that I know how to use.  I also have a bucket and spare toilet plunger.  I have metal buckets.  I have a washing machine and drier.  Oh and lots of clothesline and clothespins, and I can even throw laundry over the fence or on a chair if all else fails. 

I don't need paperwork telling me how to garden.  Keeping a list of companion plants is fine.  Keeping a chart of what I'm growing so I know when things are supposed to ripen, which also shows me what still needs to be planted is valuable.  But all the downloads of making garden beds, large scale gardening, and container gardening?  No, I'm past that. 

Cooking?  I love cookbooks so even though I'm not downloading lots of recipes, this is going to be a hard one to cut back on.  Still having stacks of paper and not organizing them is not too smart.  Sure, it's a good project for a rainy day but I can think of a ton of other things that need to get done on a rainy day.  This isn't at the top of the list.

Reading blogs?  I enjoy reading them and the enthusiasm that others emit provides a great push to get me off my rear to do more and learn more.  This doesn't mean I have to save entire pages when I can jot down some notes.  Over the past few years I've made great strides in self sufficiency and safety in my life and a lot can be attributed to reading what others have done and then trying to emulate them. 

Instead of downloading entire documents I'm going to do a better job with the organization of what I have.  How about a notebook that has a list of points for each topic rather than needing ten pages to describe it?  I don't need the feel good pep talk, just the facts.  Sort of like this subject today.  You certainly wouldn't download today's blog to remind you to only keep what you don't know! 

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for the reminder! My next clean/ sort poject needs to be my survival paperwork/ redundant books!

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